


Heartbreak

by evacoll



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Gay, M/M, i'm actually pretty proud of this, it starts out sad, just go with it, please don't let it flop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-03-14 16:54:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18952171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evacoll/pseuds/evacoll
Summary: A crazy night at hopper's cabin starts it all, Steve is believed to be dead for a bit causing Billy to go into an intense mental breakdown, when he comes back Billy is more protective and possessive than ever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, please enjoy and tell me what you think in the comments!

"Steve’s dead.” Hopper said simply as he walked into the cabin with wide eyes and tears rolling down his red cheeks from the cold of November in Hawkins.

Billy couldn't hear anything after that, he could see Nancy fall to her knees with jonathan holding her together but couldn’t hear her cries. He could see Joyce hugging Dustin as he wailed for Steve. He could see Hopper hug the kids and sit on the couch before wiping his face and taking a deep breath. Billy could see everyones eyes turn to him after Hopper said something, but he couldn’t hear or feel anything.

“Billy? Billy can you hear us?” Max asked running over to Billy and waving a hand in front of his face

“Yeah, yeah I can hear you.” Billy said through a whisper as tears rolled down his cheeks slowly and he sat next to hopper

“What do you mean he's dead?” Billy asked as he prayed in his head that it was a sick joke the kids had put him up to. He prayed that Steve would walk in at any minute and yell surprise like the idiot he was. Billy had never been religious. Neil had forced him to go to church on the holidays like christmas and easter but other than that he didn’t believe in god. He believed in a higher power he just didn't know what it was. But for the non religious boy he was known as Billy was praying harder than he thought possible. He was asking anyone in the universe to bring his idiot boyfriend back

“I’m sorry kid we were driving back here and there was a demodog in the road. I got out and shot it but it didn’t kill him so Steve went at it with his bat. The demodog knocked it out of Steve’s hand, and I couldn’t get to them fast enough. I’m so sorry.” Hopper said as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks. Hopper cared about this kid more than anything, he’d always had a place in his heart for the kid whose parents were never around, he always had a place in his heart for Steve Harrington.

“What do you mean you couldn’t get to him fast enough you had a damn gun.” Nancy yelled out through her tears. Of course Nancy loves Steve, he was her first real boyfriend. Her first guy best friend and the most understanding guy she had ever met. She expected to know Steve until they were old and had great grandchildren. She wanted her and Jonathan’s kids to grow up with Steve and Billy’s adopted kids. She knew Steve had always wanted a little girl. She had had that dream since Steve had told her and Jonathan that him and Billy were together. Sure it may be far in the future but she could see it so clearly it almost felt real.

“I don’t know what to tell you, the bullets aren't hurting that monster.” Hopper said and Nancy cried louder as Jonathan tried to hold her tighter as his tears got worse. Jonathan and Steve hadn’t had the best history sure but he was Nancy’s best friend and a good guy to be around. Jonathan would never say to Steve how much he appreciated how he handled the whole Nancy situation but he really admired how Steve left it completely up to Nancy and didn’t try to interfere.

“So what the hell do we do now?” Max cried out from where she sat against the wall with her legs folded up to her chest. Max loved Steve, he was an amazing person to be around and an even better pac man player. He was always up to watch one of Max’s skateboarding tricks and he had made Billy so much nicer. Ever since they started dating Billy would ask if she wanted to go to the arcade or out for dinner with him and Steve. Steve had helped Max and Billy’s relationship more than he would ever get to know.

“I don’t know, what do we tell his parents?” Joyce asked. She had adopted Steve as one of her own the minute he walked into their house to stay with the kids as they went to fight the upside down. She knew from word around town that his parents weren’t very present and she hated that. She had told Steve constantly that if he had anything he wanted to talk about she was always there for a chat. He had come to her multiple times but the one conversation that stuck out to her was the time he asked her if it was ok to love a boy. Steve sat that the Byers kitchen table not looking at Joyce as he cried quietly ready for her to deny him and tell him he needed help. Of course Joyce had said yes but she asked what he was asking and Steve had immediately gone bright pink in the cheeks and explained that there was a boy on his basketball team he had his eye on and had kissed the night before after a party. Joyce made Steve promise that she would get to meet this boy from the basketball team and a week later billy was sitting at the dinner table for the party’s weekly meetings.

“Not like they would even care.” Dustin said through gritted teeth as he looked down and tears dripped from his face onto the carpet. Steve was one of Dustin’s best friends. He’d driven Dustin to school everyday for the last year and a half and had come to the arcade with the kids countless times. The amount of laughs that Steve had gotten from Dustin was unimaginable and the amount of love Dustin had for the brunette was unmeasurable. 

“We don’t know that, we have to tell them something.” Mike said after signing. Mike and Steve hadn’t had the best bond of all, they never really had any one on one time because Steve never wanted to go over to the Wheeler's house because he didn’t want to make Nancy uncomfortable but the way he had always smiled at Mike when he saw him at the school or arcade always made Mike feel warm inside. Steve had always been a genuine guy who would do anything to keep him and his best friends safe. 

“And what would you suggest? We can't exactly tell them that their son was killed by an alternate universe monster can we?” Lucas spit out at Mike as he wiped his eyes and wrapped an arm around Max. Steve had stood up for Lucas all the time, the times people would yell racial slurs at Lucas from across the street Steve would run across the street without even looking both ways and rough the person up a bit. He fought his at the time enemy for being mean to Lucas and constantly showed that he was willing to put himself on the line if it meant that Lucas felt safe in his own town. 

“We will figure it out.” Will said from under his mother’s arm. Steve had a huge influence on Will. Steve and Billy was the first gay couple he had ever seen and seeing two boys smile at each other with the amount of care and love they showed each other had opened Will’s eyes to a whole new world. He had always assumed his crush on Rob Lowe was a phase but seeing Steve be happy with Billy had reinforced that it was ok to love who you love. Steve had been the first person Will had been brave enough to come to when he was confused. After hearing how happy Steve was with Billy and how long it took him to get to that state of self love and acceptance Will didn’t feel like such an outsider. He felt like he had someone he could talk to and who wouldn’t judge him. Steve had told him a million times that love is love no matter race or gender. He had told Will that while it may hurt right now and while it may be hard to accept himself for who he was when he finally found the right person all the pain and hurt would be worth it, because he would be ready to love who he was born to love.

Eleven had no words to say, she couldn't express how sad she was. Steve protected her family when she wasn't able to. Steve showed constant love for everyone around him. He showed Eleven care that she had never received. Eleven saw him as an older brother, and what do you say when your older brother dies? Eleven could only look around at all the pain on her family's face and cry silently as Mike hugged her close.

“How do we kill these things?” Billy asked suddenly after a few moments of silence.

“What?” Hopper asked, he couldn’t believe that Billy was ready to get back out there

“How do we kill them. I refuse to let them win, if Steve’s gone we are gonna show these things who the fuck they are messing with.” Billy said as he grabbed his shot gun from the kitchen table and walked toward the door.

“Billy wait, you aren’t ready to go out there, come on.” Hopper said jumping up from the couch and blocking Billy’s path to the door

“What would you know?” Billy asked laughing loudly.

“Billy you just lose someone close to you, are you sure you don’t want to let that sink in?” Hopper asked and Billy shrugged.

“I’m fine. I loved him but there is no point in getting upset about it, everyone dies.” Billy said casually as Hopper shook his head

“Billy. I didn’t want to tell you this right now but you need to hear it. The last thing Steve said to me was that he wanted me to tell you that he loved you and that he didn’t want you to go back to how you were before.” Hopper said. Billy knew what he was talking about, Steve and Billy had always had conversations about Billy’s violent past and Billy had promised a million times that he wouldn’t go back to it. As Billy thought back to those conversations his eyes welled up and tears poured down his cheeks.Hopper somehow snuck the gun out of Billy’s hand and Nancy wrapped him in a hug

“I really loved that asshole. We had dreams of moving to fucking California after we got out of school and had enough money. How stupid is that. Fuck. He just had to go and fucking die? Always putting his damn life on the line for other people. What a damn idiot.” Billy said through a cracked voice and tears rolling down his cheeks.

“That’s not stupid Billy. That’s beautiful, you guys were made for each other, we always knew you would end up together.” Nancy said as she rubbed her hand up and down his back.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do now huh? How the hell do I move on from this. He was it for me Nancy. He was the one. We agreed we wanted to get married if it is ever made legal. How the hell do I move on from that. He was the one of me I’m sure of it. He was my shot at true love how do I get over that. How am I supposed to move on?” Billy asked as he broke down into hysterics. Max walked over and leaned her head on his arm.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know but we’ll be here through it ok?” Nancy said and Billy shook his head

“I can’t do it. I really can’t. I can’t handle this.” Billy said before falling to the ground.

“You’re gonna be ok. I promise we will make sure of that. You are gonna be alright.” Joyce said running her hands through Billy’s unruly curls. 

Steve and Billy hadn’t had the best relationship, from the fist fights they had towards the beginning when neither of them were ready to admit that they maybe liked each other. Billy grew up in liberal California and had a boyfriend before but he wasn’t ready to have that in the small conservative town of Hawkins Indiana, especially with his dad being the asshole he was. Steve had never thought that his childhood crushes actually meant anything in the future but after countless insults and yelling at each other one night after getting drunk at one of Carol’s parties they kissed outside Steve’s house and that’s what started all of it. They both had to come to terms with the fact that they both felt something for each other. Even after they got past that it wasn’t smooth sailing, they had constant fights about who to tell and when. Billy didn’t want anyone to ever know, which caused Steve to feel as thought he was Billy’s dirty little secret which Billy couldn’t stand. They agreed to tell their inner circle and they all accepted it and finally Steve and Billy were able to hold hands and kiss after a monster fight. They were able to be themselves, they were able to love each other and love themselves in the process. Billy had basically moved into the Harrington’s house after the abuse that Steve couldn’t accept anymore and with his parents almost always gone there was no problem in sight. Steve and Billy had become the couple they had always wanted to be but were always too afraid to be. Sure they could only be a couple around certain people but when they were they really acted like a couple. They were in love. Billy knew that Steve was the one for him and Steve knew it too, they were just too afraid to tell the other that. 

“Kali.” Eleven whispered from across the room drawing Hopper’s attention. He turned to his adopted daughter and saw her pointing out of the window by the door. He turned to see the girl with blood running from her nose and a smirk on her face. He immediately ripped the front door opened and ran out towards her before tackling her to the ground and looking her dead in the eyes


	2. Chapter 2- Found

“What the fuck have you done?” Hopper asked as she laughed and shrugged

“Don’t know just wanted a bit of fun.” Kali said before winking and looking towards the woods where a scraped up but fully alive Steve Harrington walked out looking around. He saw Hopper and immediately began running over. Hopper wrapped the boy in a hug and cried harder than ever.

“Are you alright kid? Oh god I’m so sorry. Fuck.” Hopper said as he looked the boy over for cuts and bruises, he definitely had them but none looked even close to fatal thank god.

“Yeah I’m alright a little shook up. How is everyone else?” Steve asked looking past Hopper just as the kids burst through the door and took off sprinting into Steve as he was tackled to the ground and covered in crying kids.

“We thought you were dead you asshole. You scared the shit out of us, never do that again.” Dustin yelled over the crying as Steve hugged them all to the best of his abilities. 

“I’m alright guys I promise.” Steve said as he began to cry, he didn’t realize how much these kids really meant to him until now.

After about 5 minutes of reassuring the kids that he was alright Nancy, Jonathan, and Joyce came out of the house still crying. Nancy stopped dead in her tracks before taking off running at Steve before hugging him and wrapping her legs around his waist as she cried into his shoulder. Jonathan ran over to and patted Steve on the back. Joyce stood where she was before walking over quickly and kissing Steve on the cheek a million times. This feeling was similar to how Joyce had felt when she had finally found Will.

“You asshole we just got Billy to calm down enough for us to leave him to fall asleep. You have to go see that poor boy he’s going through a full mental breakdown right now.” Nancy said as she jumped out of Steve’s hold. Joyce hugged Steve and smiled

I knew you weren’t gone but god you gave me a real scare there kid.” Joyce said

After assuring everyone 5 more times he was fine Steve walked into Hopper’s cabin leaving everyone else outside to yell at Kali. He walked calmly into Hopper’s bedroom and saw Billy lying down in a fetal position crying his eyes out and trying his best to stay quiet

“Billy?” Steve asked quietly, he didn’t want to scare the poor boy more than we already was. Billy shot up from the bed and looked around the room until his eyes landed on his boyfriend of a year and a half.

“Steve?” Billy asked carefully.

“Yeah it’s me baby.” Steve asked taking a step forward making Billy take a step back.

“No you’re dead, this is a dream fuck Billy wake up.” Billy yelled at himself before hitting his head hard with a fist. Steve rushed over and pulled Billy’s hands into his own and looked into his eyes

“It’s not a dream babe, Kali made Hopper think I was dead. She made Hopper see me dead.” Steve said calmly looking Billy in the eyes, the deep blue eyes that were glassy with tears.

“No No this isn’t real.” Billy said shaking his head. Steve grabbed Billy’s head and made him looking at Steve before leaning in quickly and planting his lips on Billy’s. Steve kept his hands on either side of Billy’s head and kissed him with the same passion he had the night Billy had told him he was in love with Steve. Billy pulled away from the kiss after a little while and looked into Steve’s big brown eyes. He had tears streaming down his face and confusion was written across his face. 

“I’m here, this isn’t a dream. I swear to you. I’m alive Kali did it, the others are outside talking to her.” Steve said, he knew that if this wasn’t handled well this could send Billy back a million steps in trust and that was the last thing Steve wanted. Billy looked into Steve’s eyes for a few moments before taking a deep shaky breath and hugging Steve harder than ever before. Billy was never a big hugger but when him and Steve got together he had to get used to the cuddling Steve always wanted and the hugs Steve always gave him whenever he showed any signs of sadness, they had actually started to help Billy a lot. 

“Are you alright?” Billy asked while sobbing

“I’m fine baby. I promise I’m alright.” Steve said as he began to cry too

“I’m gonna kill that bitch.” Billy said talking about Kali as he pulled away from Steve, or at least tried. Steve just hugged him tighter.

“Please don’t Please just hold me right now.” Steve said quietly and Billy sighed before nodding and laying Steve down on the bed and hugging him close. Steve was practically on top of Billy. They kissed each other slowly and held each other close until a gentle knock came to the door and Joyce walked in.  
“I’m sorry to interrupt boys but we really need to talk about this whole demogorgon situation.” Joyce said quietly. Billy still had his eyes closed and his head in Steve’s shoulder so Steve smiled and nodded at Joyce

“We will be right there.” Steve said. Joyce smiled at the two before closing the door behind her

“We need to go Billy.” Steve whispered and Billy sighed

“I don’t think you understand how fucking scared I was.” Billy said and Steve nodded

“I know but I’m alright, see I’m right here nothing is going to happen to me I promise.” Steve said quietly. After another minute of the two kissing each other they got out and walked out into the living room where everyone was sat around the table. Billy’s eyes immediately went to Kali and he glared

“What the fuck is she doing here?” Billy asked as he wrapped a protective arm around his boyfriend's waist 

“Don’t even bother asking they have a dumb ass excuse.” Dustin said as he glared at Kali too, it was obvious they weren’t the happiest with her right now.

“I know that you guy are pissed at her, hell I am too, but she's a really asset to the team and I think we could really use her help right now.” Hopper said and Billy shook his head

“We were doing just fine without her, why do we suddenly need her so fucking badly?” Billy asked as he sat down on the couch and pulled Steve down next to him and tucked under Billy’s arm.

“Just trust me for once in your life kid please.” Hopper said as he rubbed his eyes with his hand and looked around at all the angry faces directed towards Kali. If looks could kill this girl would be long gone by now.

“Fine but before anything else, why the fuck did you do it?” Billy asked looking Kali dead in the eyes as she smirked

“I just thought it would be nice to see how much you guys care about Stevie boy.” Kali said smiling and laughing slightly, as if this was something to joke around about.

“Well you got your fucking answer you psychopath of course people care about him that was obvious without having to make us all think he was dead, god you must be literally insane.” Billy said, he was about ready to get up, walk over to her, and just deck her in the face.

“I thought it was funny.” Kali said simply. Billy moved to stand up before Steve put a hand on his chest and kept him down on the couch beside him partly because he didn’t want Billy doing something he would regret and because he didn’t want to be away from Billy right now. 

“Ok come on guys. Now we need to talk about the game plan for today.” Hopper said

“We are still going out there, after everything that happened?” Max asked quietly

“We don’t have a choice kid, they are most active at night, if we let them run wild they could kill an innocent person.” Hopper said and Max nodded, she didn’t like the idea of Steve being out there but there was no way he was going to sit this out.


	3. Chapter 3

“Ok so what do we do?” Nancy asked from her spot beside Steve on the couch

“We divide and conquer, I’ve split you up into groups and we will patrol the town and be on the lookout for them.” Hopper said “The teams are Billy Max and Lucas, Steve and Dustin, Jonathan and Will, Nancy Mike and Eleven, and me and Joyce.” Hopper said and before he could even finish Billy was already shaking his head

“Nope, good try I’m in Steve’s team.” Billy said and Steve shook his head

“No we need to be with the kids.” Steve said to him quietly and Billy shook his head with fire in his eyes

“Why isn't the crazy chick helping?” Billy asked

“You really want her to help?” Hopper asked and Billy shook his head after remembering what she had done to him just an hour before.

“Billy, Hopper knows what he is doing would you just go with it?” Steve asked and Billy closed his eyes for a moment before nodded slowly.

“Fine just don’t do anything stupid.” Billy said and Steve nodded

“Alright let’s get out there.” Hopper said, everyone grabbed their weapons and grouped up

“I’m serious babe, don’t do anything stupid I can’t risk losing you again.” Billy said as he put his forehead against Steve’s. Steve nodded.

“I won’t, I swear, now stop worrying about me and go kill some monsters like the badass guy I fell in love with.” Steve said before kissing Billy and walking back over to Dustin who hugged him and they started walking off into the darkness with flashlights to guide their way

“You really scared the fuck out of me Steve.” Dustin said as they walked 

“It wasn’t me Dustin, Kali made Hopper see me dead and kidnapped me for some reason, I still need to talk to her about that when we get back there.” Steve said as he rubbed Dustin’s shoulder, he knew it was hard on the kid and he just wanted him to feel better.

“I know, It just can’t happen again, I don’t think I’d be able to handler it. The shit that was going through everyone’s head was insane Steve. Billy started having a full on mental breakdown. I’ve never seen him like that.” Dustin said. Steve had seen Billy cry quite a few times. He’d cried when he came over after a bad night with his dad, he’d cried the first time he told Steve he loved him, and he’d cried the first time Steve and Billy had made love. Billy never seemed like someone who would cry in front of other people but once he was comfortable around someone he showed himself and wasn’t afraid to show his emotions. 

“I know, he didn’t even believe that I was really alive when I went to see him.” Steve said quietly shining his flashlight around them to look out for sneak attacks.

“He even went to Nancy for comfort, of all people he went to his boyfriend's ex girlfriend. I expected him to go to Joyce or even Hopper but no he immediately beelined for Nancy.” Dustin said and Steve rose his eyebrows, that was surprising. Billy had always told Steve how jealous he was of Nancy and how close she was to Steve. Billy had even been a little rude to Nancy’s face on the odd occasion before Jonathan shut it down immediately.

“That is weird, I wouldn’t have expected that.” Steve said

“That guy really loved you Steve, I hope you know that. He was going on and on about how he wasn't able to do it without you and that you were his person, the one for him.” Dustin said laughing slightly 

“Yeah we’ve talked about that before, he is very dependent on me because of everything that has happened with his father. We are working on the possessiveness and fear of me leaving but I’m sure this has set us back to the beginning. He’s my person to thought Dustin, I’m sure of it.” Steve said 

“How can you be so sure, you’re still really young.” Dustin said looking up at Steve with squinted eyes 

“I don’t know Dustin, you just kind of know. It was one night when we he was over at my house and a little drunk, he went on a huge rant about how much he wanted scrambled eggs with a side of yogurt. Completely insane really, but we sat there just laughing and I listened to him rant about how good yogurt and eggs were together and it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. Up until then we were together and everything but it wasn’t serious, but after that night I knew that he was it for me. He really is. I knew from then on that he was going to be by my side for the rest of my life.” Steve said, thinking back to that night and remembering how happy they had both been.

“So what is gonna happen when you graduate?” Dustin asked 

“Billy wants us to move back to California, it’s his home, he loved it there. We still need to have a few serious talks about it but I think we will do that.” Steve said smiling

“Is that what you want?” Dustin asked, Dustin was constantly afraid that Steve was just going along with what Billy wanted

“I am worried about leaving this town, what with everything that has been going on with this upside down stuff but I want to move away from here. I want to experience a different environment I think California would be nice.” Steve said 

“I’m going to miss you Steve.” Dustin said 

“I know. I’m going to miss you so much. I swear i will visit all the time. Maybe when you are old enough you can come visit us, we can show you around and stuff.” Steve said smiling

“Yeah that would be fun, just don’t forget about us when you leave.” Dustin said smiling

“Oh I could never forget you Dustin, you are one of my best friends.” Steve said smiling back at Dustin. Just as Dustin was about to reply back that Steve was one of his best friends too there was a low growl from the forest on Steve’s right side. Steve immediately jumped into action and shielded Dustin with his own body before shining the flashlight into the woods and getting his bat ready to hit the thing when it came charging out of the woods towards them. Soon enough a demodog came running out of the woods and up to them. Steve looked at it once before slamming his bat into the side of it’s face causing it to go flying backwards and hit itself against a tree. It cried out in pain before getting back up, shaking itself off and running back up to them only for Steve to hit it again. They repeated this action a few time before the demodog finally gave up and Steve was able to kill it once and for all. 

“Alright well that’s taken care of.” Steve said calmly as he checked for the third time that it was dead before beginning to walk again

“I don’t know how you do that so calmly Steve.” Dustin said 

“Well it has to get done.” Steve said calmly.

“I know, but doesn’t it affect you at all?” Dustin asked

“Of course it does, the amount of nights I wake up with nightmares is ridiculous but it’ll pass, this will all pass. There is nothing I can do about it.” Steve said and Dustin nodded

“I’m sorry about the nightmares.” Dustin said quietly

“No it’s alright Billy doesn’t get them at all for some reason so he’s there to help me out when I wake up.” Steve said and Dustin nodded

“You guys are really good for eachother, one of the most emotional person I’ve ever met and a person I didn’t think had any emotions until an hour ago.” Dustin said and Steve laughed 

“Yeah I’m sure.” Steve said as another noise made Steve look into the. Steve shoved Dustin behind him again and looked around for a monster. Suddenly Billy and Max came tripping out of the woods in front of them and smiling at them

“Hey babe, how’s it going?” Billy asked as they walked over to Steve and Dustin and kissed Steve while smiling

“Good, you guys are oddly smiley tonight, especially for someone who was having a mental breakdown an hour ago about me leaving.” Steve said and Billy laughed

“No I’m alright, just getting over you.” Billy said laughing as Steve laughed awkwardly not knowing what Billy meant

“What does that mean then?” Steve asked and Billy shrugged

“I don’t know I’m tired can we go back.” Billy slurred as his eyes began to close. Steve looked to Max for some answers, she looked at him and rolled her eyes

“He’s been drinking non stop since we left Hopper’s cabin, said something about not being able to cope?” Max answered. Billy had always had separation anxiety and the days that they would go monster hunting were always the worst for him, Steve had gotten Billy to calm down and stop drinking as he was walking around in the woods that had countless monsters in them waiting to eat and kids to protect, but after everything that had happened today Steve should have guessed that Billy would go back to his old ways of drinking and hunting.

“Billy come on, you told me you would stop doing this.” Steve said sighing and shaking his head at his boyfriend

“And you told me you wouldn’t die. Sometimes people lie.” Billy said

“Billy babe, I’m not dead I’m talking to you right now it was just a misunderstanding. I’m right here.” Steve said.

“Yeah but one day you’re gonna die doing this so I might as well prepare for that right? Always be ready for the future and all that shit.” Billy said and Steve shook his head sadly

“I’m not going to die. I promise I’m always really careful that’s not going to change. You can’t live your life in fear of me passing away, that’s not a healthy way to live and you know it. Come on we have to get you back to Hopper’s so you can sleep this off.” Steve said as he wrapped Billy’s arm around his shoulder and started walking back to Hopper’s with the kids behind him holding flashlights to light the way back.

“I don’t know why you put up with me Harrington.” Billy said which made Steve cringe. Billy hadn’t called Steve ‘Harrington’ in so long, he hated being called that. Billy would always spit it at him like he hated him whenever they would fight

“Don’t call me that Billy, you know I don’t like that.” Steve said and Billy laughed

“Yeah I know you hate that, you like it when I call you baby or honey.” Billy said laughing as the kids yelled 

“Just shut up Billy, you’re gonna end up saying something you’ll regret.” Steve said laughing slightly, Billy knew that he did love when Billy called him pet names.

“Alright baby I’ll be quiet.” Billy said and Steve nodded. They eventually got back to Hopper’s cabin and walked into the door. Steve laid Billy on the couch in the living room

“Alright the kids and I are gonna go back out there and look around more please just stay here ok?” Steve said and Billy shook his head before grabbing Steve’s hand

“Please don’t go back out there I can’t handle being away from you right now. Please I can’t lose you.” Billy said

“I have to Billy. I need to make sure we are safe, you know that.” Steve said rubbing Billy’s hand

“Baby please, come on don’t go baby.” Billy said as tears welled up in his eyes.

“What’s going on babe?” Steve asked as Max and Dustin walked into Hopper’s bedroom and shut the door to give the couple their space. Steve sat down on the couch next to Billy’s head.

“I can’t lose you Steve, I don’t think you understand how much I need you. I can’t do it. I love you too much to let you go out there. I love you too much to watch you get hurt. Please.” Billy said as tears rolled down his face.

“Billy I’m alright I’m not going to die I’ve fought these things before I can do this.” Steve said and Billy shook his head before pulling Steve over his body so he was laying on his chest while straddling Billy 

“You have to talk to me baby, I need to know what’s going on, I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” Steve said running his hands through Billy’s hair 

“I don’t know what’s going on though, baby that’s the problem. I don’t know why I’m like this. I can’t lose you, that’s honestly all that I know. I love you so much, if you die I can’t go on, I can’t go on if I don’t have you by my side. Call me sappy, call me clingy, call me whatever you want but I just need you.” Billy said as he talked through his tears brokenly.

“Baby, I need you too, of course I need you. I’m always going to need you and I’m always going to love you but we have to be able to be apart from each other, I can’t be physically with you 24/7 but I’m gonna be with you always in my heart and in my soul. I’m going to be with you always but we have to be able to be apart. I know that might take some time and that’s ok. We can work on that but at some point we have to be apart. I know we can do it. I believe in us and I know it will take time. I am more than willing to put that time in not just for you but also for me, for us. I’m willing, but I need you to be willing to work to. I need you to be 100 percent honest with me and not hide anything from me, tell me how you are feeling. I can’t read your mind and I can’t make this better without you. Today has been impossible but you make it better for me, let me make this better for you please. I want this to be made right but I need you to want that too.” Steve said looking Billy in the eyes as tears dropped onto his face and Steve wiped them away.

“I do want this to get better, of course I do, I’m sorry I’m so needy, I’m sorry I have these issues. I’m just so tired of being hurt by the people I love. I’m so tired of losing, and I finally won you. I finally got the one thing that makes everything better and today I get told that my soulmate, the one person I trust my life with, the person I want to spend the rest of my life with, the one person I could even imagine having kids with is dead. I was told that you were killed Steve. I cannot ignore that. I felt my heart physically break. I thought the last words I said to you were going to be fuck off when you said you were driving with Hopper. Those would have been the last thing I said to you when they should have been I love you and I need you and I cannot live without you. Steve I thought I lost my person for about 30 minutes I cannot tell you how much this hurt me. I’m sorry but I cannot let that go.” Billy said.

“I know baby and I’m so sorry but there is nothing I can do about it, say this to Kali she is the one who did it. I really am sorry and I can only promise you that I am alright and I am going to be ok and we are going to be ok. We need to come up with a plan to help you be apart from me.” Steve said and Billy nodded

“Yeah I know.” Billy said before he pulled Steve down by his neck and kiss him deeply

“I love you, you know that. We need to take it slow. I’ll be with you and just distance myself, that doesn’t mean I will leave you but it does mean that we will have to spend time apart.” Steve said and Billy sighed but nodded

“Ok, just please take it slow. I don’t think I can take not being with you for awhile right now.” Billy said and Steve nodded before leaning again and kissing him softly on the lips. The other guys began to come into the cabin, Eleven had dried blood around her nose and it was obvious that they had killed a few of those flower faced fuckers.


	4. chapter 4

“What happened to y’all?” Hopper asked seeing Billy’s teary eyes

“Nothing, don’t worry about it. Everything go ok with you guys?” Steve asked as Billy sat on the couch as casually as he could while still crying slightly

“Yeah it was fine, killed 5 of them so that’s a good thing.” Hopper said as he slumped into his usual recliner spot in the living room, truly a dad chair 

“I only got one.” Steve said as Hopper shrugged

“That’s better than none honestly we will take what we can get at this point, what’s wrong with Hargrove?” Hopper asked looking at the obviously drunk teenage lying on the couch.

“Oh he was just a little worried about everything, he’ll be alright don’t worry it’s fine.” Steve said as he watched Billy look up at him with a smile, he really should move Billy into the bedroom but didn’t have the heart to move the obviously emotionally and in turn physically drained boy.

“Alright so what do we do now?” Steve asked smiling, he was ready to get back into the swing of this before something else happened that would mess the group up even more than the recent event already had. 

“We need to have a meeting, there has to be something we aren’t getting about this, we have to be missing something. It has never been this hard before, it’s like they are growing stronger every time, we need new tactics to fight these things. Is there anyway they could be getting stronger without us really knowing it?” Hopper asked looking mainly at Dustin, he always seemed to have the most information about these things and how to fix it when things got worse. 

“I guess I can do more research, it seems like they are mutating to be stronger to fight against us harder each time we see them. I haven’t read anything about this before and I feel like I’ve read every book and magazine there is to read about things like these. I guess we just keep fighting them off till I can find something else to try.” Dustin said as everyone smiled and thanked the boy for his hard work towards fighting these things off so that they could all hopefully get back to a regular life, well as regular as their lives could be at this point.

“I guess we just get back out there?” Jonathan said from the corner of the room with nancy.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea with this one.” Steve said motioning down to the half asleep drunk teenager on the couch.

“That’s true, Steve you stay here with Billy and make sure he doesn’t choke on his own throw up, the rest of us will get back out there.” Hopper said as everyone began to leave the cabin after hugging Steve who wished them all good luck and told them to be safe.

“Billy, come on let me move you into the bedroom.” Steve said trying to get Billy to stand up

“Oh you’re that eager huh baby, almost dying gets you going huh?” Billy asked laughing slightly

“Not at all what I meant but if it will get you to stand up and come with me sure.” Steve said willing to go along with it if it meant that Billy would do what he wanted.

“You gonna call me daddy like you have been recently?” Billy asked making Steve gasp loudly.

“You said you would keep that a secret asshole.” Steve said making Billy throw his head back and belly chuckle just the way Steve loved

“There ain’t nobody around babydoll you can scream it as loud as you want, who’s gonna hear?” Billy said running his tongue over his teeth in just the way he knew made Steve crazy.

“We aren’t doing that right now Billy, you need to get some rest.” Steve said finally getting Billy over to the bed close enough to get him down on it and lay down. 

“Aren’t you going to lay with me?” Billy asked making grabby hands for Steve as he made his way back over to the door hoping to get out and possibly leave to hunt demon dogs a little after Billy fell asleep.

“I was just going to sit on the couch out here to make sure everything was alright with the cabin.” Steve said as Billy frowned but nodded curling up in a ball and closing his eyes as he began to finally surrender to his own exhaustion. Steve watched from the doorway of the bedroom as his boyfriend fell asleep calmly. He beelined for the door after about 10 minutes, opened it as slowly and quietly as possible and ran into the dark woods with a flashlight, bat full of nails, and adrenaline.

Steve had been walking through the woods for about 20 minutes before he heard the tell tale growling coming from the woods in front of him. He planted his feet into the ground, he did that all the time thanks to Billy, picked the bat up, and stared intensely at the area of the dark woods the growling was coming from, all the sudden a demogorgon popped out and went in for a bit of steve. Steve swung his bat hard, making the creature fall to the ground in pain. Steve continued to beat the creature into the ground roughly finally, after 12 hits the things gave up and died on the forest flow. Steve sighed, took a deep breath, and continued throughout the woods. He knew deep down that it was a bad idea to be doing this around and to leave Billy when he had agreed to not and Billy had begged him to stay. He knew he was in the wrong right now, but he also knew that the town needed protecting and that if he could do that he would risk it to do that for the people of Hawkins, even if they never found out he had helped.  
He shone his flashlight all around him, paranoid that one of the demodogs had learned how to be silent and had decided to creep up on him instead of growling. He suddenly realized he had forgotten to bring his walkie talkie, the walkie talkie he was told to always have with him. He sighed, Hopper was going to kill him and decided it would be best to turn around and head back to the cabin, maybe he could get some sleep as well, it had been a really long day, being dead was hard work. As he turned around a demodogs howled loudly and began running towards him from the shadows of the woods. Steve tried to prepare but it charged him, knocking him off his feet and the breath out of him. He tried to get back up but the monster climbed on top of him. Steve held it back while trying to swing his bat to knock it off of him, the monster was stable on top of him. Steve knew what he had to do to survive, it was going to hurt, but it would hurt a lot less than death. He let go of the monster and let it bite his arm hard, he screamed out n agonizing pain before swinging the bat making the monster let go and fall off of Steve, he beat the monster into the ground hard, it gave up after only 6 hits. Steve grabbed his bat and took off running, he knew his scream would attract more of them and that if he didn’t treat his wound soon it would get infected. In 12 minutes he was back at the cabin where he could already tell everyone was back. He ran in as everyone turned to him with glares.


	5. Chapter 5

“What the fuck is wrong with you, you really wanna die that bad?” Nancy asked walking over ready to slap him across the face because of how reckless he wa before she saw his arm

“Holy shit Steve.” Dustin said running over looking at the wound. Joyce had already jumped up to get the first aid kit from the bathroom. They sat Steve down on the couch next to an angry looking Billy.

“Hey baby.” Steve said trying to sound calm, he knew Billy loved pet names and was hoping it would calm him down a little

“You’re an asshole.” Billy said 

“Billy I had to kill them, I got two all by myself that’s pretty cool.” Steve said, deep down Steve knew Billy was glad he was back but he also knew that Billy was going to be pissed at him for quite awhile. 

“Wow good for you, if only you had remembered your promise to not leave, or your fucking walkie talkie. I swear to god you should be on suicide watch for all the dumb shit you do.” Billy said looking at my arm.Steve could tell Billy wanted to wrap his arm around Steve and hug him tight, he knew that in a little while he would. Joyce fell to the ground in front of Steve and began to clean and wrap the wound in gauze. 

“I’m sorry I know I scared you but I had to.” Steve said making Billy laugh.

“You are an asshole, I can’t believe you did that. You know how pissed it would make me. You do realize that 4 hours ago we thought you were dead, we realize that you’re not and what do you go an do, fucking leave. I woke up from that nap thinking the whole thing was a dream, that you were actually dead and my brain was tricking me into thinking you were ok, that’s fucked up Steve and you know it. I’m so tired of you not realizing that other people care about you enough to not want you to die, you are so fucking stupid. You really hurt me.” Billy said as tears streamed down his face, Steve knew he had really messed up now. 

“I’m sorry, I knew what I was doing was wrong, I didn’t think it would hurt you that much I’m rally so- OW!” Steve yelled out as Joyce poured rubbing alcohol on his wound.

“Sorry honey it would hurt a lot more if you let it get infected instead.” Joyce said as Steve nodded, usually Billy would be right there next to him holding his hand and taking his mind off of the pain, he knew how much of a baby Steve was when it came to pain. Instead Billy just sat there staring at him, not making any physical contact, he even turned his legs away from Steve, Billy knew how much Steve used to love having their legs touching. They weren’t allowed to hold hands in public but nobody questioned when their legs would touch. Billy had never been this mad at Steve before, Steve knew that. 

After Joyce had patched up Steve and told him to sit back and calm down a little, he didn’t notice how nervous he was until Dustin came over and made his leg stop shaking by placing his hand on it. Steve smiled at the kid before turning his attention back to Billy.

“What can I do to fix this baby?” Steve asked, Billy loved pet names even if he would never admit it outloud. 

“You just really scared me, you’re constantly really scaring me, I think you enjoy scaring the shit out of me. You don’t realize how much I fucking love you, if you die, if you get hurt, I get hurt, I die. I might as well at least. With all the shit I’ve told you, all the things you have done for me, and all the amazing times we have had together, knowing something could take that away in a second and you always seem to run head first into the danger. You don’t care about yourself and you don’t know how much I care about you, how much we all care about you. You fucking kill me Steve. I love you so much, you are it for me, you’re the one I wanna spend the rest of my time on this hellish earth with because you make dealing with it a shit ton easier. I can’t lose you, I need you to swear to me you will never do this dumb shit again. I don’t care about the circumstances, if this happens again I’m done, I have to be, you cause me so much anxiety without even knowing it when you do this shit. I love you, but you scare me.” Billy said turning to look at Steve in the eyes with tears rolling down his cheeks and a runny nose. 

“I’m so sorry Billy, I love you so much. I wasn’t thinking straight, I didn't think of how much t would hurt you, I only thought about the fact that I wanted to kill those monsters and save everyone , that was wrong of me, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry. I want to spend the rest of my life with you to, you know that. I’m sorry I swear to you this won’t happen again, I can’t lose you.” Steve said with tears in his eyes and on his cheeks as well. Billy grabbed Steve’s cheeks and dived in to kiss him hard, it was the most intense kiss they had shared since the night Billy finally came to terms with his feelings, drove to Steve’s house, and kissed the living hell out of him. Steve reciprated and wrapped his arms around Billy’s neck to keep him where he was. Luckily the other guys were all in the kitchen finally realizing it was 10 PM and they hadn’t eaten anything since lunchtime. Steve and Billy sat there for a few moments just kissing lazily, they had nowhere to bed, and for those few minutes Steve completely forgot that there was a herd of interdimensional demons trying to kill everything and everyone in Hawkins.

After a couple of minutes they broke apart and decided to meet the others in the kitchen and grab something to eat. Steve had no appetite but he knew that if he did not eat he would crash really hard and not be able to come back from it for awhile. Steve grabbed a sandwich that Joyce was making for everyone and handed one to Billy as well. They all sat practically on top of each other at Hopper’s tiny kitchen table trying to talk about things other than the monsters. It was a strange group, they really had nothing in common other than their drive to fight the monsters. Sure the kids were all good friends but they would never be hanging out with Hopper, Joyce, Billy, Nancy, and Jonathan on a friday night by choice. They said they loved Steve and were always asking him to hang out so he assumed he must have done something right. 

Just as they were all finishing their sandwiches they heard growling coming from outside of Hopper’s window, they all knew what that meant, one of the monsters had figured out where they all were and was ready for its dinner. Joyce immediately jumped up, grabbed all the kids, and pulled them into Eleven’s bedroom locking the door to let the others handle the demon. 

“I’ll get it” Steve said running to the door to grab his bat.

“NO you will not, Hopper can do it, he has a gun.” Billy said catching Steve by the arm and glaring at him. Steve wanted to break out of Billy’s grasp and go and kill the dumb creature but knew it would cause an even bigger argument than the one they had just had. He sighed, nodded to Hopper who ran to the door with his pistol, and hugged Billy. 

“Thank you.” Billy said quietly, he knew it took a lot for Steve to give up his control and was proud of his boyfriend.


	6. Chapter 6

Hopper ran out of the door pistol in hand as he snuck around the corner, aimed the gun in between the huge eyes of the monster and shot, it screamed out before hitting the forest ground hard and dying slowly. Hopper walked back into the cabin as everyone else was coming out of Eleven’s room slowly, looking around the cabin to be sure the coast was clear.

“Do we have any idea of how many there are out there?” Steve asked 

“Oh Steve, just as stupid as you’ve always been, the upside down doesn’t make it that easy, they don’t give us an attendance sheet sadly.” Kali said as she swung the door of the cabin open with her mind and barged in, nobody knew where she had been but honestly none of them cared, they were still so mad at her for what happened to Steve. He seemed to always be targeting Steve, nobody really knew why though.

“What the fuck is your problem bitch.” Billy said as he stood up and shoved her against the wall.

“Billy stop.” Steve said walking over to grab him before Billy shrugged out of Steve’s grasp and pushed her against the wall harder

“Why are you so mean to him, he didn’t do anything to you, if you have an issue with him you have an issue with me, do you wanna talk through it or keep being a bitch and get hit.” Billy said as Kali went wide eyed and looked around waiting for someone to support her, it never came, they would always support Steve before Kali.

“I can see something in him, something bad.” Kali said looking at Steve.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Billy asked not breaking eye contact with her

“He’s getting possessed by something, or he will, I don't know but something is going to happen.” Kali said as Billy looked at Steve. 

“He’s fine what are you talking about?” Dustin asked walking closer to Billy and Kali. Kali broke out of Billy’s grip while he was looking at Steve and sat on the couch.

“The Demogorgons have started to be able to possess people through a bite or scratch it’s something in their spit I guess, I don’t know I’m still figuring that out right now. I think steve is going to get bitten by one of them and get possesed.” Kali said as everyone looked at Steve’s arm which was beginning to bleed through the gauze as they spoke. 

“What he’s gonna turn into one of them?” Mike asked from over next to eleven.

“No, don’t be stupid, he’s just going to start working for the upside down without really knowing it, the upside down is going to take over his body and use it for their own work.” Kali said making Steve’s head spin, he sat down on the couch and looked around, his eyes landed on Billy who was leaning heavily against the door to try not to faint and fall over.

“So what do we do to stop that?” Hopper asked hoping it was an easy solution like cleaning the wound and making it heal fast.

“I don’t know yet, I need time to research.” Kali said looking around 

“We don’t have time to research he could get possessed at any minute.” Dustin screamed

“No it only happens after he gets bitten.” Kali said looking over at Steve, finally noticing the gauze wrapped arm which now had black ooze dripping from it.

“Shit.Guess I need to figure this out.” Kali said quietly. Steve looked down at his own arm and looked up at Billy.

“I’m gonna pass out.” Steve said quietly before Billy jumped to action and caught him as he started to fall to the ground. Billy grabbed him and carried him into Hopper’s room and laid him on the bed as Joyce grabbed the first aid kit again and unwrapped his wounded arm. She looked at the wound and gasped, it had gone completely black, almost as if the skin was rotting and starting to fall away from his body in a way.

“I don’t think rubbing alcohol can fix this.” Joyce said but nonetheless got the rubbing alcohol out and tried pouring it on the wound only to have it sizzle and burn off quickly. 

“So what the fuck do we do?” Billy asked calmly, he was trying to stay calm but anyone just from looking at him could tell he was falling apart at the seams and shouldn't be able to hold it together for much longer.

“I don’t know, I guess all we can do is research a little bit and try our best to figure this out quickly, I think when Steve wakes up, we won’t be talking to Steve.” Will said from the doorway where the rest of the kids stood looking in at their friend.

“I’ll sit in here with him, maybe if he wakes up to a familiar face it could help?” Billy asked as Joyce nodded, kissed him on the forehead, and walked out closing the door behind her.

“You can do this baby, you aren’t gonna let those flower faced fuckers win, you can do this, keep fighting them off, for me.” Billy whispered quietly into Steve’s ear before kissing his cheek and settling in for a long night of watching his brown eyed boyfriend get possesed. 

It was around 10 am before anything happened. Steve finally began to stir and Billy sat straight up in his chair by the bed

“Steve? Baby it’s Billy, wake up for me please babe.” Billy said soothingly, hoping that if Steve heard his voice he would stay with him. Steve shot straight up in his bed, looked around before his eyes landed on Billy, he looked him up and down before looking the other way, getting out of bed, and walking to the door.

“Steve wait, how are you feeling, are you alright?” Billy asked as Steve turned to face him

“Do I hate you?” Steve asked as Billy laughed slightly, he assumed Steve was playing a joke on him

“I really hope so or else us dating wouldn’t be great right?” Billy asked smiling up at his goofy boyfriend.

“Boyfriend? I’m going to guess that is important information to know.” Steve said before he turned back to the door, opened it, and walked out to the screams of all the kids, they were so happy to see Steve, but Billy had a horrible feeling this wasn’t Steve.

“Steve! Are you alright?” Dustin asked running up to hug Steve. Steve shoved the boy away from him and that was the last straw Billy needed to know this was not Steve. The real Steve would never shove one of the kids away from him especially not Dustin he would never admit it but Billy knew Dustin was Steve’s favorite. Billy looked over at Hopper, Joyce, Kali, Nancy, and Jonathan and shook his head. They quickly understood that this was not Steve, this was a possessed Steve.

“Are you ok?” Dustin asked after regaining his balance as quickly as possible. Billy was no longer listening to the conversation and walked over to the other group.

“That’s not Steve, he woke up and asked me if he hated me, I thought he was joking so I said that I hoped not or else it would be weird that we were dating and well, that surprised him. Kali was right, he’s possessed.” Billy said 

“We did some research over night and we are still working but you might be the key to getting him back, the only downside is we need to put you in a dangerous situation.” Joyce said holding Bill’y hand

“Why?” Billy asked 

“We think that if Steve sees you in trouble and that you might get hurt he might come back to his senses and we can save him from there.” Joyce said as I nodded and Steve walked over to us.

“Hey Babydoll.” Steve said to Billy smiling

“You’ve never called me that before.” Billy said looking at Steve suspiciously 

“What can I not try new things? God you are so annoying sometimes.” steve said before walking away to sit on the couch alone

“Yeah definitely not Steve.” Billy said after a sigh

“Don’t take anything he says seriously I know it’s weird because it’s him saying it but not really.” Nancy said kindly, they seemed to have a new understanding of each other after what had happened last night, they cared about each other. 

“Yeah of course, do where do we start this thing, how do I get myself hurt?” Billy asked looking at the kids who were all talking in the corner obviously about the same thing they were, but they couldn’t all talk together then Steve would be suspicious.

“We will get Kali to make him see a demogorgon attacking you, it won’t actually happen.” Joyce said as she stood up

“Hey we all need to go outside, do a patrol to make sure there are no monsters.” Joyce said as everyone agreed, knowing the plan already they all knew it was go time. 

“Were there monsters last night?” Steve asked making everyone look at him

“Oh that sleep must have made you groggy and forget some stuff, yeah there were tons of them, they are active at night but I just want to be safe. Don’t forget your bat honey, you’re trusty weapon remember?” Joyce said trying to make it seem as though they still thought he was just normal Steve.

“Oh right, how could I ever forget that.” Steve said as he began to look around the room, Steve always left it by the door, he always said it was for ‘easy access’ finally he spotted it as all the others shared glances of worry. They left the cabin and began to hike through the thick woods. 

They all began to walk through the forest until Joyce nodded to Billy to walk away from the group, soon after Hopper nodded at Kali to start the illusion, everyone else began to scream for Billy to make it seem more real as blood began to come out of Kali’s nose and Steve looked to the clearing where Billy was in his mind. They all turned their attention to the brown haired boy as they continued to scream to make it sound real, he had tears rolling down his cheeks but he didn’t move, he didn’t say anything, he didn’t do anything. This was the hardest thing billy has ever had to watch, he had seen his dad beat his mother, he’d seen some tough shit, but seeing the person he loves more than anything in this cold heelish world not do anything while he got mauled by an invisible monster was ripping him to shreds. Suddenly out of nowhere Steve screamed bloody murder, something came flying out his mouth and up into the sky and he began to fall on the forest floor before Billy ran over in lightening speed and caught him before his head hit the ground to hard. 

“What the fuck just happened?” Dustin screamed as they all crowded around Steve in the forest clearing, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.


	7. Chapter 7

“Steve? Can you hear us buddy, come on, you gotta wake up.” Nancy said shaking Steve as they all laid on the forest floor, honestly they looked crazy but when do they not.

“What the fuck happened?” Steve asked groggily grabbing for his head which was pounding with pain.

“Oh thank god.” Joyce yelled hugging the boy close, just from those few words they could tell they had their sweet Steve back. They all hugged him close in a huge pile. 

“What the hell happened?” Steve asked breaking away from the pile, he has some real problems with claustrophobia. He walked over to Billy and simply stood in front of him, silently asking Billy to wrap his arms around his middle and hold him close, he wanted the human contact but he also wanted to know what the fuck happened to him and why he couldn’t remember anything past last night.

“Kali was right. You were possessed by the upside down, we got it out of you thank god but we need to keep an eye on this.” Hopper said looking round the woods, always on guard, always ready to start, and win, a fight.

“What did I do?” Steve asked looking around, everyone looked at Billy in the hopes he could break the news that he didn’t remember them at all easily

“Well you woke up this morning, and I thought everything was normal, until you didn’t remember me and asked me if you hated me. You didn’t remember any of the kis, or any of us really. You were snappy and rude and didn’t even know what we were doing trying to fight this upside down shit.” Billy said quietly, he knew this was going to hurt Steve, he always felt forgotten before, just another person in the crowd and he never wanted anyone to feel like that, so now that he had done it, even though it wasn’t really him it was going to kill him.

“I didn’t remember you guys? I didn’t remember you?” Steve asked looking around before turning in Billy’s arms to look at him.

“Yes, but it wasn’t you sweetie, we don’t blame you, nobody is upset with you.” Billy said but Steve’s bottom lip began to quiver and fat tears rolled silently down his cheeks, he felt horrible.

“Steve, don’t cry it’s alright we know it wasn’t you, don’t blame yourself for something you didn’t know you were doing.” Billy said hugging Steve close, he could feel the tears dropping onto his shirt but didn’t care.

“You’re ok baby, it’s fine don’t worry.” Billy whispered into Steve’s hair and rubbed circles into his back while rocking him back and forth. 

“I can’t believe I forgot you I’m so sorry I’m so horrible.” Steve said, everyone took that as a cue to lease, they all began to walk back to the cabin after a nod from Hopper.

“No stop, you are fine, this isn’t your fault.” Billy said trying his best to not cry as well, seeing Steve upset always seemed to upset him, and Steve gets upset quite often so it wasn’t a good thing

“It is my fault, if i hadn’t gone into the woods after you asked me not to I wouldn’t have gotten bitten then I wouldn't have been possessed, if I had just listened to you we wouldn't be in this situation, this is all my fault, I’m so stupid why can’t I just listen to you.” Steve said

“Hey, you think I want some dumb bitch that just listens to everything I say, of course not, do you know how boring that would be? If I wanted that I would date some bitch from school. You are your own person, and that person is strong, stubborn, smart, and so fucking kind it’s insane. I’ve never seen someone care about other people so much it’s a little insane, sure it gets you put into some bad situations because you always put other people before yourself but we always figure it out, just like we will now, it’s gonna be ok. You make your own decisions and I love that, I think it’s amazing, just try to care about yourself as well as everyone else, you’ll never care about yourself as much as I care about you but you could at least try.” Billy said smiling as Steve slumped onto the forest floor, pulling Billy down with him, and just sat there. There sat there for a long time just holding each other, holding their worlds together, holding each other. 

“I’ll try I’m so sorry Billy I can only imagine how scared you must have been. I can imagine how scared I would be.” Steve said quietly through sniffles

“Triple that and that’s how I felt.” Billy said after signing and smelling Steve’s hair, he always smelled like a mixture of frahe facet spray, Billy’s cologne, and citrus, Billy always jokes that he wore perfume instead of cologne but he actually loved the smell, he was never a citrus fan but after being around Steve so much, it was one of his favorite things to smell now.

“KIss me.” Steve said quietly

“I don’t know if now is the time for that pretty boy, we need to get back to the cabin, we need to figure out what the fuck is going on.” Billy said calmingly

“No, please I need to feel you.” Steve said quietly as he gripped Billy’s shirt tightly unwilling to let go. Billy sighed before nodding and driving down to meet Steve’s lips with his own, smiling into the kiss because the sparks were still there, they hadn’t left since their first kiss on Steve’s porch at 3 AM. Steve kissed like he had never been kissed before, hungry for Billy to take control, but Billy refused, they both knew that it wasn’t the time for that Steve just wasn't’ ready to admit it. Steve loved when Billy took control from him, it made him feel owned, loved, and vulnerable. Billy loved taking control, he needed to feel in control and like he could do whatever he wanted to really feel pleasure, his life was so out of his control with all the upside down stuff and Neil he needed to have control over something and Steve was always more than willing to give him and outlet to let it all out.


	8. Chapter 8

“Steve come on, you know we have to go, we can’t just lay here all day, they need our help.” Billy said breaking the kiss after a few minutes.

“What if it happens again Billy? I can’t control this, I don’t know what happening, what if it happens again and I actually do something to hurt you or the kids, or anyone, I can’t do that. I’m scared.” Steve said, Billy knew how hard it was for Steve to admit that he was scared of something. He had always been raised in the mindset of being a guy means you shouldn’t be scared of anything, that you should be the protector. Neil had tried to enforce that on Billy but Billy’s mother had always told him that showing emotions doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human. He had tried to explain that multiple times to Steve it was just taking him a little while to really understand and start practicing it.

“I know, I’m scared to Steve. But we have to try and fight it, we can’t just roll over and let whatever this is win. We have to fight, if not for ourselves, then fight for the kids, they love you so much. I don’t think they could cope if something bad actually happened.” Billy said running his fingers through Steve’s long brown locks.

“I need you to promise me something.” Steve said and Billy nodded

“Anything for you.” Billy said looking Steve in the eyes

“If something happens, I get possessed again, I get injured, anything really bad, promise me you won’t let the kids see me like that. Promise me that you’ll just kill me if there is no way to fix it.” Steve said tears rolling down his cheeks, Billy immediately broke away from Steve, Stood up, and looked down at him

“Are you fucking insane, I can’t do that. You can’t expect me to just agree to fucking kill you when you get injured, do you know aht that will do to me you asshole, you aren’t dying, you promised me at the beginning of this whole thing that you wouldn’t die, you aren’t about to break that promise now, how could you ask me that? That’s fucking horrible of you.” Billy said pacing around in front of his boyfriend who he was ready to commit to a mental hospital for the way he had been talking.

“Wouldn’t you rather remember me as me, your loving but stupid boyfriend not some upside down spy that could try and kill you at any moment. I want this to be over. I want life to go back to normal, I wanna make out behind the arcade while the kids are inside playing pacman, I want to hold hands under the table and eat diner with Jonathan and Nancy, I want to be with you forever, but I don’t know if we will ever get that now. Please I need you to promise me.” Steve said looking at Billy from the forest floor, he did not have the energy to get up anymore. 

“I want that too, that’s why we should be fighting this not coming up with plans to kill each other if something happens, you want all that so bad, then fucking fight for it Steve, show em who's boss don’t agree to just take the pain, fight against it instead.” Billy said crouching down to Steve’s eye level and looking him in the eyes sadly.

“Please Billy I just need this closure, I need to know that you will do what is best for me but more importantly what is best for all the others. I can’t ask anyone else to do this, they would think I’m crazy.” Steve said quietly looking in the direction of Hopper’s cabin

“You are fucking crazy Steve, I’m the last person you should be asking to do this. I love you so much you can’t expect me to just kill you if things get rough. You said we would be together forever and damn it I’m holding you to that.” Billy said before pulling Steve up to his feet and hugging him close, he knew this was hard for Steve, but he also knew that there was no way in hell that he would ever kill Steve. Not even if Steve had his hands around Billy’s neck and a gun to his head, there was no way he could ever do it. 

“I’m gonna fight, but we are up against something big, bigger than we have ever fought before. I don’t know how this is going to work out.” Steve whispered quietly into Billy’s shoulder, he knew nobody was around to hear him but he also wanted to whisper it, it made it feel less real.

“I know, but that’s the fun part, think of it as a new adventure, an adventure that could kill you but won’t, I’ll make sure of that.” Billy said pulling away from Steve, throwing his arm over Steve’s shoulder, and began walking back to Hopper’s cabin to figure out a new strategy to beat this thing. 

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Steve said suddenly as they walked through the woods.

“I know you don’t what made you bring this up?” Billy asked looking over at his boyfriend

“Well if I get possessed or something else crazy happens I don’t think I’ll have control over my body and I could end up hurting you, ro anyone really. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me it’s not fair, promise me you won’t let me hurt anyone at least?” Steve asked looking at Billy, they had stopped about 100 feet away from the cabin, this was not a conversation they should have in front of other people.

‘I won’t let you hurt anyone, I promise you that. Even if you do hurt someone just know it isn’t really you hurting them, it’s the upside down using your body to hurt them. I don’t know why it chose you honestly, your scrawny body couldn’t hurt a fly.” Billy said making steve laugh

“Oh shut up any interdimensional demon would be lucky to possess me.” Steve said 

“Yeah I guess you’re right, just like always, king Steve.” Billy said before leaning in and planting a firm kiss on Steve’s lips, they continued walking up to the cabin, took a deep breath, and entered without knocking

“He’s going to die, I can feel it.” They heard Jonathan say as they walked in. Steve stopped dead in his tracks as everyone turned to look at them as they entered. Billy immediately walked over to Jonathan.

“Listen here Byers, if you’re gonna have a negative fucking attitude then leave, we don’t need that right now. Talking about Steve dying, that’s fucking insane. He’s a fighter he won’t let it win, and if for some reason he gives up, then I won’t let it win. Nobody is going to die, we are going to figure out how to fight and beat the shit out of this thing and then we can all go back to our normal lives, you can go back to taking pervy pics of your girlfriend and I can go back to having nothing to do with you, just the way i like it. So once again if you are going to sit here and be negative instead of fighting to figure out a way to fix this then get the fuck out, but if you actually care about Steve and want him to get better and have this shit over with then we would welcome your help. From now on we only say positive things about this, nobody is dying, especially not Steve, I’ll make sure of that.” Billy screamed in Jonathan's face who sat there and took it, he knew he was in the wrong, he knew he deserved this.

“I’m sorry I just tho-” Jonathan tried to say before Billy cut him off again. Steve hadn’t seen Billy this mad since they had gotten into the fight over coming out or not. 

“You thought you would just share your opinion when Steve and I weren’t here, it makes sense in theory but honestly it’s insane to think like that, going in with a negative attitude will only cause negative things to happen, for once in your life do something right and have a positive attitude, it's the best thing to do right now. I’ve had enough of the negative shit we have to stay positive about this if not for ourselves then for Steve he doesn’t deserve to heard your whiny ass saying that he is going to die, because he isn’t and he knows that even if he doesn’t want to admit it, we are all going to be alright, we are going to figure out a way to kill this things once and for all and I will finally be able to hold my boyfriends hand under a booth in the diner on one of those dumb fucking double dates I’m sure Steve and Nancy will plan, and I know you want that to, so if worst comes to the worst then fucking fight for that.” Billy said before storming into Hoppers bedroom and slamming the door. Jonathan had fat tears rolling down his cheeks before looking at Steve. Who was also crying quite heavily 

“Steve I’m so sorry i really didn’t-” Jonathan said before being cut off again, this time by Steve

“No Jonathan you’re fine, I would have done the exact same thing, it’s alright I just don’t think Billy likes to think about it you know what I mean?” Steve said as everyone nodded, it had been a long day for everyone and it was only noon, they still had a long time ahead of them before they figured out what to do but if one thing was clear its that Billy would not tolerate any negative talk for anyone giving up on the fight, they all knew that.


	9. Chapter 9

After about 30 minutes of sitting around, the kids reading, Steve suffering from a massive headache after having a demon ripped out of his mind, The adults and tennagers talking in the kitchen about future plans to fight the upside down and keep the kids and Steve safe Steve decided he should try to talk to Billy. He stood up slowly, scared that if he stood up to fast he would topple over and faint from this headache. He walked up to Hoppers bedroom door and knocked quietly

“Billy? It’s me, Steve, can I come in?” Steve asked quietly putting his ear up to the door hoping to hear a reply from Billy. When nothing came Steve opened the door quietly and peeked his head into the room. He saw the small form of the once tough bad boy Billy Hargrove curled up on Hopper’s bed, knees to chest, with tear stains down his cheeks. He was sound asleep, head obviously cried so hard that he had worn himself out and fallen asleep. Steve knew he needed the rest though, all the worrying he was doing about Steve took a lot out of him. Steve quietly closed the door and moved over to the rocking chair in the corner of the room and sat down, as he rocked back in the old chair watching Billy he thought about their first date. 

It was 6 months ago a few weeks after the last problem with the upside down was fixed. Billy had apologized for beating Steve’s face in and, in a drunken mess, confessed he wanted to take the pretty boy out for dinner. They obviously couldn’t do all the cute first date things other couple got to do in Hawkins like open doors for each other, hold hands across the table, kiss, anything like that and they would be beaten to an inch of their life behind the city diner. Billy drove up in his beloved Camaro and they drove to the diner, got some burgers, fries, and shakes to go, and drove to the quarry, nobody ever went there at night, they were all too scared of what might be in the woods, but Steve had seen what lived in the woods, he had fought what lived in the woods, he didn’t care anymore. They talked about everything from school to basketball, to Billy’s rough home life, when he opened up about the abuse he faced on a daily basis at the hands of his step dad steve knew he was serious about this thing. After they had eaten and their shakes had melted completely Billy drove Steve back to his house, he got out to walk Steve up to his front door as they continued to talk. They got to the front door but were still talking, lit only by the glare of the yellow street light, Billy leaned in quickly cutting of Steve’s sentence about his love for Farrah Fawset pray. He didn’t make another move after that, he wasn't sure how Steve would react to kissing another boy. Steve wrapped his arms around Billy’s neck after he realized what was going on and pulled Billy flush against him. Billy reached behind steve and tried the door of course he was dumb and too excited and forgot to lock his front door. Billy opened the door causing Steve to fall into his house but Billy caught him quickly. They stumbled through the house finally getting to the stairs when Billy stopped and pulled away from the kiss

“Do you wanna do this pretty boy?” Billy asked wiping his tongue across his teeth slowly smiling at steve as he took off his jacket.

“Absolutely.” Steve said attacking Billy’s lips again. Billy quickly picked up Steve who wrapped his legs around Billy’s waist. Billy carried them up the stairs as he sucked dark purple bruises on Steve’s neck who was trying to take off his shirt before Billy stopped him by pulling it back down.

“Let me take care of that” Billy said, obviously wanting to be the one to undress Steve.

“You’ve done this before?” Steve asked suprised by hw confident Billy was, he knew he was a confident guy but he expected a little hesitation when it came to sex.

“Oh yeah I have baby, don’t worry I’ll go easy on you this time.” Billy said and Steve’s head went wide at the insinuation that there would be a next time. Steve smiled to himself as Billy pulled Steve’s shirt off over his head and tossed him onto the bed and stood back to admire Steve

“What?” Steve asked looking up at Billy through his lashes.

“Just admiring you, you really are gorgeous.” Billy said looking Steve up and down

“I’m sure you say that to tall the guys.” steve said making a joke to try and lighten the mood

“No I really don’t” Billy aid before surging forward and diving back into Steve

“Steve, you there?” Billy’s vice broke Steve from his dream as he looked around the room and his eyes landed on Billy who was sat on the bed right in front of him

“Yeah sorry, I was just thinking.” Steve said smiling

“You alright? What were you thinking about?” Billy asked, he knew that in this situation it would be easy for Steve’s brain to go to a very dark place very quickly.

“Our first date.” Steve said, Billy smiled and leaned forward slightly to put his hands on Steve’s thighs

“What about it pretty boy?” Billy asked smirking as he rubbed slow circles on Steve’s thighs

“Everything. How sweet you were during the date, the things we talked about at the quarry, what happened at my house, everything.” Steve said smiling slightly at the memory that was rudely interrupted by Billy.

“That was a good night huh? I had a lot of fun, knew from that night that I loved you.” Billy said as Steve looked up into his eyes

“What took you so long to say it out loud then?” Steve asked, it had been 5 months before Billy had finally said the three words Steve had craved so much from the blonde boy. 

“Wanted to make sure you felt it too, really didn’t feel like saying it then you break up with me because you didn’t feel the same way. I figure that the longer I waited the more time it gave you to really be sure of your feelings for me.” Billy said making Steve smile

“Always thinking about my feelings huh?” Steve asked as Billy nodded

“Constantly, you have made me more aware of others feelings than I have ever been in my life, I love it, makes a lot less fights happen.” Billy said as Steve laughed

“Well in that case you should probably go talk to Jonathan I can tell he isn’t feeling all that great about that interaction earlier.” Steve said trying his best to calmly bring up the topic

“Yeah well he pissed me off he shouldn’t be talking like that, especially around the kids, he knows that they worship[ you.” Billy said and Steve nodded, he agreed he shouldn't have said that stuff while the kids were around but he also knew that they shouldn’t be fighting within the group when they had a bigger problem to face.

“I know but we would have done the exact thing if it wasn’t one of us, please we don’t need to be fighting right now we need to be focused on the bigger problem right now not some dumb comments Byer’s made.” Steve said and Billy took a deep breath and nodded. He stood up from his place on the bed and kissed Steve on the forehead before pulling him up and out of the rocking chair.

“Alright let’s get this over with then.” Billy said as he walked over to the door and opened it as all eyes turned to the door. 

“I’m sorry Jonathan, I got defensive and it was wrong of me to do, I shouldn’t have yelled at you that is my fault. I really am sorry.” Billy said, he had gotten so much better at apologizing since meeting Steve, the majority of their fights were his fault and Steve liked verbal apologize on physical, well he liked physical after the verbal. He also liked verbal while being physical but that was just off topic. 

“It’s alright Bily I shouldn’t have been saying that stuff it was negative and we don’t need that right now. I’m sorry.” Jonathan said as he walked over and shook Billy’s hand in apology. They knew they would never really be friends but they also knew that Steve and nancy would always be friends and if they wanted to eb in their lives then they would have to get along with each other at least a little bit. 

“Alright now that that is settled what is the game plan.” Billy asked, eager to change the topic to something he could actually control.


	10. Chapter 10

“We don’t know if Steve will get possessed again, we need to look at the bite mark it left on you.” Joyce said walking over to Steve and lifting his shirt up, he had opted for long sleeves to keep the bandages covered so they had to take it off to look at it. Billy sat down on the couch and looked Steve up and down, he would never get over how attractive Steve was to him.

“Shit.” Joyce gasped as she pulled the white bandages away from the bite. Billy immediately jumped to his feet and walked over to look at the damage, he looked down to see white puss around the bite marks and black stuff in the center, he had no clue what the black material could be but with his extensive knowledge of what cuts and bruises looked this, Billy knew this wasn’t right.

“What is it?’ Steve asked straining his neck to get a look at the cut before Billy grabbed his chin and made him look straight ahead again

“If you see this you’ll pass out Bambi and we really don’t need that happening again.” Billy said, Steve knew that Billy only called his bambi when he meant business, it was a strange nickname to take seriously but he knew better than to try and look again. 

“Will go get me the first aid kit please.” Joyce said in her kind calming voice, she was trying to stay calm to stop Steve from panicking but she was very close to it herself, she couldn’t lose one of these kids, she wouldn’t let the upside down win. Will came running back in with the first aid kit and handed it to his mom before stepping out of the way and back over to his friends who stood by and watched as their favorite person screamed in agony as Joyce poured rubbing alcohol on the bite. 

“I know it hurts Steve but we have to fight it.” Joyce said as Billy leaned in close, started whispering in Steve’s ear, and began rubbing circles on Steve’s back.

“You’re ok baby, we are doing this for your own good, it’s going to be alright don’t worry, you can fight this I believe in you. You’re so strong, I love you so much.” Billy whispered to Steve as he held out his hand for Steve to take a squeeze through the pain, he felt like he was helping a woman give birth and honestly with the pain Steve was in he might as well have been. Steve collapsed onto the couch as soon as Joyce said she was done, as he tried to catch his breath from the pain he felt two small arms wrap around him. Steve opened his eyes and looked down to see Dustin hugging him tightly with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“What’s wrong Dustin?” Steve asked looking down at the little boy

“I don’t want you to die.” Dustin said through his sobs and cries

“Who said anything about dying? I’m not going anywhere kid, when this is all over I’ll be back to driving you and everyone else to the arcade and picking you up for school, nothing is going to change it’s alright, please don’t cry you’ll make me cry as well and we don’t need that happening right now.” Steve said smiling sadly. Mike walked over and pulled Dstin off of Steve into Eleven’s room as all the other kids followed them. Billy sat down next to Steve and rested his head on Steve’s shoulder. Steve ran his fingers through Billy’s blonde locks and smiled to himself.

``I've always love your hair you know that right?” Steve whispered so only Billy could hear

“Really I couldn’t tell with how much you play with it and pull on t when we have sex.” Billy said making Steve blush quickly

“Shut up.” Steve said laughing and Billy shrugged

“We both know it’s true.” Billy said and Steve nodded, they just rested there for a little bit, they needed a break they didn’t know what to do, they just knew that they loved each other and didn’t want to lose the other. 

“It’s still early in the day is there anything we can do to fight this thing right now?” Billy asked after a few more minutes of sweet silence

“We don’t know if it is going to possess Steve again, until we know we can’t do anything really.” Nancy said from her seat at the kitchen table

“It possessed Steve when he was asleep.” Billy said quietly, he hated what he was suggesting but he knew it had to be said for the better of Steve

“So you need to go to sleep Steve.” Hopper said and Steve shook his head quickly

“No if I get possessed again I don’t know what I am going to do, what if I hurt one of you?” Steve said and Nancy shook her head

“No we need to do this, we know how to get it our of you don’t worry we can do it, go to sleep.” Nancy said. Steve wanted to protest more, he was about to until he looked at Billy to see him shake his head, his way of telling him to please just go with it, that it would help in the end no matter how much he hated it. He nodded at Billy, sighed, and stood up before reaching out for Billy

“What?” Billy asked not wanting to move.

“I can’t sleep without you asshole come on.” Steve said and Billy smiled cockily, he knew what Steve wanted but he wanted to be sure that everyone else in the room knew it as well. He laughed slightly before grabbing Steve’s hand and walking into Hopper room with everyone else watching them go. 

“What was in my cut?” Steve asked as Billy laid him down on the bed and hovered on top of him

“Don’t worry about that right now Steve.” Billy said quietly.

“No I can’t not know, you need to tell me.” Steve said and Billy sighed

“It looked like the upside down was trying to claw it’s way out of you, like it was stuck inside of you trying to get to the surface, it was fucking weird. Joyce cleaned it though. It’s all gone I promise.” Billy said making Steve shudder, he wanted to see it was gone for himself, he knew Billy was one of those people who would lie to make Steve feel better but it always ended up hurting him in the end.

“That's terrifying.” Steve said staring at the wall blankly. Billy wrapped some covers around Steve and pulled him close

“Go to bed please, I really want to get this shit over with and go back to normal life.” Billy whispered as Steve nodded and closed his eyes, it felt almost normal, being wrapped in Billy’s arms at night, he expects to wake up and it all be a dream, he expected to wake up to a shining sun, he expected to have to wake Billy up for school, he expected it to be normal, but that would be way to much for him to ask for.

Billy laid there with Steve, speaking honestly he was too scared to fall asleep with Steve next to him, he trusted his boyfriend, he really did, but he didn’t trust the upside down and what it could do to his boyfriend. He knew the power it had and the pain and suffering it could cause and he didn’t want that to come to any of them so if that meant wrapping his arms around his ticking time bomb of a boyfriend and pretending to be asleep to protect the rest of the group then he would do it, he would always do it. He laid with Steve for about and hour and a half before the teenager began to wake up, Billy propped himself up on his elbow to look down at his boyfriend to see if he could tell a difference.

“Hey baby.” Steve said in his sleepy voice he knew Billy loved so much

“Hey, you alright?” Billy asked as he smiled, he could tell this was still his boyfriend.

“I’m great, what time is it?” Steve asked

“A little after four, we should probably get back out there, tell the rest of them that you aren’t possessed.” Billy said and Steve nodded happily

“Yeah wouldn’t want them to think I was going to try to kill them all at any time.” Steve said with a laugh causing billy to laugh uncomfortably, Steve wasn’t really one to make those kind of jokes, he hated when Billy made jokes about death and never even mentioned death, so hearing that come out of his boyfriend’s mouth put Billy a little on edge. He knew that if he was in Steve’s situation he would have done the exact same thing though so he tried not to judge based on one little comment about death. Steve jumped up from the bed happily, another red flag. Billy was usually the one who was forced to yank Steve out of bed, he was always very needy when he woke up always asking for a kiss or a cuddle or five more minutes in bed so him getting up happily and on his own accord was a little strange for him but Billy knew that things had been a little weird so obviously things might change, he was probably just excited because maybe this whole problem was coming to an end.

“Ok, can I have a kiss first though?” Billy asked and Steve looked over at him 

“Maybe another time.” The last red flag Billy needed to confirm that this was not Steve, Steve had never once refused a kiss from Billy it just didn’t happen, he was always down for a little peck all the way to a full blown make out. Billy sighed, he couldn’t let Steve know he knew it wasn’t him but it was hard to hide the disappointment he felt when he realized this wasn’t his boyfriend.

“Ok yeah sounds good.” Billy said trying to hide his sadness. They opened the door and walked out into the living room, all eyes turned to them and Billy stood behind Steve and shook his head to them trying to let them know that this was not Steve at all, this was the upside down.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we are just gong to pretend like the end of season 3 didn't happen

“How are you feeling Steve?” Dustin asked as Steve looked over at him and smiled, Steve had a very particular smile, it was bigger on the left side of his face always, this time it was bigger on the right side, everyone noticed that it was impossible not to honestly. Steve was one of the most smiley people anyone had ever met, you could see his smile from a mile away, it was one of the things Billy learned to love first about Steve. Dustin looked over at Billy and nodded, he understood that this wasn’t Steve.

“I’m good, honestly I was worried for a minute but I feel completely normal, 100 percent myself,” Steve said sitting down on the couch next to Hopper, another thing the real Steve would never do. He would never admit it but Billy knew Steve had a fear of authority, all the parties he had been too he had been sure to leave a little early when it looked like it was getting too crazy in case the cops showed up. He always steered clear of Hopper, just in case. He would never put himself in a place close to Hopper, strictly out of fear. 

“Alright, how about we go for a walk?” Hopper asked nodding at Kali to go and get a head start. She started for the door before Steve could start to talk.

“I don’t know, I’m not really feeling it you know? Kind of just want to sit here for awhile.” Steve said, everyone looked around before Billy nodded at Kali to start a vision, he silently slipped back into Hopper’s bedroom to stay out of sight. Suddenly a huge crash sounded and a Demogorgon was in the living room ripping Billy limb from limb in front of Steve who immediately got up and ran overlooked at the carnage of his boyfriends dead body and passed out, the same exact thing that happened last time happened again, after a few minutes he woke up and everyone crowded around him.

“Did I hurt anyone?” Steve asked crying, he had been crying a lot lately just out of fear. He didn’t want to hurt anyone,

“No, we wouldn’t have let you,” Billy said from across the room, the kids helped Steve up and he immediately made a beeline for Billy, he tucked himself under Billy’s arm and cried into his chest.

“I don’t know how to fight this,” Steve said quietly but with the silence that filled the room it was obvious that everyone had heard him, they didn’t care though they knew how scared he was, they were just as scared but didn’t want to show it to Steve, they knew that would scare him even more. 

“We will figure out a way don’t worry, you know I won’t let anything happen to you,” Billy said, he was saying that everyone in the room was thinking, but they all knew that Steve would believe it more if it came from Billy.

“How?” Steve asked and Billy looked around for help, he could say all the sweet nothings he wanted to Steve but he didn’t know any of the science stuff everyone else did, he needed some help figuring that stuff out, that's where the kids could help.

“Steve, we are figuring out a way we might have to burn it out of you as we did with Will when it happened so that could work,” Dustin said 

“Won’t that hurt?” Steve asked he’d always been a baby when it came to pain, you would think after getting beaten up so many times and fighting so many monsters he might be over it, but no.

“Yes but it will get this thing out of you and that's what actually matters right?” Billy asked into Steve’s hair

“Yeah I guess so I just don’t want to hurt anyone,” Steve said and Billy nodded

“I know, don’t worry I won’t let you hurt anyone,” Billy said running a hand through Steve’s full head of hair, he knew how much Steve loved to have his hair played with, it’s why he grew it out. Billy always made a point to comfort him by running his hands through his hair, it always made his boyfriend calm down a little bit.

“Why don’t you go lie down for a little bit, don’t fall asleep but try and recharge while we do some more research on how to help you? I’ll bring you some soup is chicken noodle still your favorite?” Joyce asked smiling as she remembered when Steve had come over with a really nasty cold, his parents were out of town like always and he just wanted some soup, Joyce was, of course, happy to help.

“You know me too well Ms. Byer’s,” Steve said smiling as Joyce walked over, ruffled his hair, and made her way into the kitchen. Billy helped Steve get into Hopper’s bedroom and laid down on the bed. 

“You can’t fall asleep so I’m going to stay here to make sure that you don’t,” Billy said firmly as Steve rested his head on the mountain of pillows and smiled at his boyfriend.

“Yeah sure that’s why you want to stay in here not because you have a negative idea what is going on with all this science upside down stuff,” Steve said laughing slightly, he always knew how to lighten up a situation even if it was life or death.

“Well yeah, I’ve never said I was smart with this stuff to ask me a math problem I can do it in 5 seconds but I’m just here to fight not to figure stuff out. I’m the brute force of the group, not the dictionary.” Billy said smiling as he kicked his feet up on the bed and pulled out a pack of smokes.

“You know I don’t like you smoking around me,” Steve said and Billy nodded

“In case you haven’t noticed I’m a little stressed and this is going to take the edge off unless you would rather me take the edge off by yelling at one of your kids I would suggest you plug your nose and suck it up, princess,” Billy said, only jokingly angry.

“Sir yes, sir,” Steve said while saluting and closing his nose, which in turn made his voice sound insanely nasally.

“I swear you are the dorkiest person I’ve ever met Steve,” Billy said making Steve smile, he wore that badge with pride. 

“Well, you’re the one that agreed to date me,” Steve said smiling as Billy nodded without a second thought

“Yes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Billy said as he leaned over and planted a firm kiss of Steve’s lips to Steve’s surprise

“You aren’t going soft on me are you Hargrove?” Steve asked

“No just appreciating what I’ve got, I did pretty good, my dad wouldn’t be proud of me but I think I did damn good. My mom would love you. She would have been proud of me.” Billy said with a far off look in his eyes, anytime he mentioned his mom he always got emotional 

“I wish I could have met her, she sounds like an amazing woman. I know for a fact that she is proud of you right now as she looks down on you.” Steve said as he interlocked his hand with Billy’s a silent tear rolled down Billy’s cheek but still, he smiled, he knew his mother would and is proud of him whether she could say it to him or not.

“Thanks, babe, how do you always know just what to say?” Billy asked and Steve shrugged

“I don’t know I guess helping 12-year-olds figure out if their crushes like them and helping Dustin after that winter dance thing really helped me,” Steve said making Billy laugh as a soft knock at the door tore them away from each other and they both looked over at Joyce who walked in carrying a big ceramic bowl of chicken noodle soup.

“Here’s that pick me up I promised,” Joyce said smiling as she handled the bowl over to a very grateful Steve, He was worried he wouldn't be able to keep much food down but chicken noodle soup was the best thing for when that happened.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. Will and Jonathan are lucky guys.” Steve said making Joyce smile

“Your moms a lucky lady to have such a polite son, I just wish she would appreciate you more,” Joyce said she couldn’t count the number of times she had ranted about how horrible;e Steve’s parents were to never be home and never even bother to check of Steve, it was a form of child abuse. It was neglect and Steve felt it weigh heavy on his heart every time he thought about it.


End file.
